Indie Spotlight – Sidereal Sanctuaries; Player Representation is Important

Independent developers Jessica Karels and Jason Kobett believe in safe, fun, immersive LARP. With over 30 years of LARP experience between them, they are stepping into the world of LARP development with their game Sidereal Sanctuaries.

Welcome to the End of the World

Sidereal Sanctuaries follows a world without technology. In an alternate history where the end of 2012 brought a massive technological cataclysm that disabled technological devices around the world, society is left to recover and re-learn how to survive. Society collapses into social spheres and isolationist groups. And then there’s the great reveal–that that technology and establishing reality are the results of a deal that mankind made with various cosmic forces long ago. Part of that deal included a clause that said cosmic forces would send out enforcers in the event that mankind didn’t fulfill their end of the bargain. These enforcers (called Remnants) have attempted to fix humanity’s mistakes throughout history.

You play as a Remnant. Remnants are hunted from the moment that their supernatural side manifests. They congregate in places that are supernaturally protected, called Sanctuaries, where they learn how to work together and how to deal with a mix of both supernatural and mundane issues.

Representation in the Community

In a blog post yesterday by Karel, she highlights the desire to focus on representation in the LARP community. “This means,” she writes, “that we have a lot of legwork ahead of us in building bridges with various geek communities so that we show diversity without tokenizing. As we look at fundraising, we are budgeting for sensitivity readers so that we don’t accidentally harm those who are are already marginalized and underrepresented.”

What this means for the community is being open and communicative with players while the game is being developed.

Alpha tests are currently running in the Minnesota-St. Paul area. Check out the Beta Playtest next January at Midwinter Gaming Convention and stay tuned for more information on this game.